‘It had been a busy day, as some players also took part in a training game earlier that day’

SHELDAN KEAY

ACCRINGTON Stanley suffered defeat on Tuesday after a young side were beaten by National League team Barrow at the Furness Building Society Stadium.

First-half goals from Ross Hannah and Jordan Williams condemned John Coleman’s men to a loss.

It had been a busy day for Accrington, as some of their players also took part in a behind-closed-doors training game against Blackburn Rovers earlier that afternoon.

The Reds suffered a 1-0 defeat in the game against Blackburn, with Danny Graham getting the goal.

Luke Wall, Elliot Parish, Frazer Shaw and Bastian Hery were among those to have played in both matches, while Stanley also fielded a trialist against Barrow.

Despite coming up short in the game, Accrington were lively in the opening stages and went close when Brayden Shaw fired into the side netting.

The opening stages progressed with the Reds having a couple of halfchances but they couldn’t make them count and Barrow soon took the lead after 10 minutes.

Williams was brought down in the box by Ross Sykes, forcing the referee to point to the penalty spot. That allowed Hannah to step forward and convert the penalty to put his team in front.

Stanley looked to hit straight back when Wall fired a shot at Joel Dixon, while Barrow defenders Danny Livesey and Moussa Diarra were doing their best to prevent any other opportunities.

The home side then managed to double their Hazeldine one-on-one.

The attack was brought to an end though when Hazeldine was brought down by goalkeeper Joel Dixon outside the box, with the referee choosing to just hand out a yellow card as it was a friendly.

Barrow brought on substitute goalkeeper Andy Coughlin a few minutes later, and he was called into action straight away to deny Nathan Webb.

The second half wasn’t as action-packed as the opening 45 minutes, with chances few and far between.

Wall saw a free-kick deflected over the bar for Accrington, while Ross Sykes headed wide late on after getting on the end of Hery’s free kick.